Sociology-theory and methods-functionalism

Question 1

What do functionalists often use when describing society?

Answer 1

An organic analogy-they say that society is like a biological organism. Parsons identifies three similarities between society and a biological organism: system, system needs, and functions

Question 2

How is ‘system’ a similarity between society and a biological organism?

Answer 2

Organisms, such as the human body, and societies are both self-regulating systems of inter-related, interdependent parts that fit together in fixed ways. In the body, these parts are organs, cells etc. In society, the parts are institutions (the education system, the family), individual roles (such as teacher, mother) etc

Question 3

How are ‘system needs’ a similarity between society and a biological organism?

Answer 3

Organisms have needs, such as nutrition for example. If these are not met, the organism will die. Functionalists see the social system as having basic needs that must be met if it is to survive. For example, its members must be socialised if society is to continue

Question 4

How are ‘functions’ a similarity between society and a biological organism?

Answer 4

For functionalists, the function of any part of a system is the contribution it makes to meeting the system’s needs and thus ensuring survival. For example, the circulatory system of the body carries nutrients and oxygen to the tissues. Similarly, the economy helps maintain the social system by meeting the need for food and shelter

Question 5

What is the central question society tries to answer, according to Parsons?

Answer 5

‘How is social order possible?’ How are individuals able to cooperate harmoniously?

Question 6

What does Parsons believe about social order?

Answer 6

Parsons argues that social order is achieved through the existence of a shared culture or, in his words, a central value system

Question 7

What is a culture

Answer 7

A culture is a set of norms, values, beliefs and goals shared by members of a society. It provides a framework that allows individuals to cooperate by laying down rules about how they should behave and what others may expect of them, defining the goals they should pursue, and so on

Question 8

Why is value consensus needed, and what is it?

Answer 8

Social order is only possible so long as members of society agree on these norms and values. Parsons calls this agreement value consensus, which is the glue that holds society together

Question 9

What is the basic function of value consensus?

Answer 9

To make social order possible, by integrating individuals into the social system, thereby directing them towards meeting the system’s needs. For example, the system has to ensure that people’s material needs are met, and so the consensus may include a general value about the need for people to work. To achieve this goal, there also needs to be a set of specific rules of conduct or norms-for example about punctuality, how to obtain jobs etc

Question 10

For Parsons, how does the system ensure individuals conform to shared norms and meet the systems needs?

Answer 10

The system has two mechanisms to ensure these things: socialisation and social control

Question 11

What is socialisation?

Answer 11

The social system can ensure that its needs are met by teaching individuals to want to do what it requires them to do. Through the socialisation process, individuals internalise the system’s norms and values so that society becomes part of their personality structure. Different agencies of socialisation, such as the family, education system, media and religion, all contribute to this process

Question 12

What is social control?

Answer 12

Positive sanctions reward conformity, while negative ones punish deviance. For example, if the value system stresses individual achievement through educational success, those who conform may be rewarded with college diplomas, while those who deviate by dropping out may be stigmatised as layabouts

Question 13

Why do individuals behave in ways to pursue society’s shared goals and to meet its needs?

Answer 13

Because individuals are integrated, through socialisation and social control, into a shared value system, their behaviour is oriented towards pursuing society’s shared goals and meeting its needs. The behaviour of each individual will be relatively predictable and stable, allowing cooperation between them. This integration into the shared normative order makes orderly social life possible. From these basic ideas, Parsons builds up a more detailed model of the social system

Question 14

How is Parson’s model of the social system described?

Answer 14

As a ‘building block’ approach

Question 15

What is Parson’s model of the parts of the social system?

Answer 15

At the bottom, there are individual actions-each action we perform is governed by specific norms of rules. These norms come in ‘clusters called status-roles. Statuses are the positions that exist in a given social system; for example, ‘teacher’. Roles are sets of norms that tell us how the occupant of a status must carry out their duties-eg teachers must not show favouritism, must be knowledgeable, etc. Status-roles also come in clusters, known as institutions, eg the family is an institution made up of the related roles of father, mother, child, etc. The related institutions are grouped together into sub-systems, eg shops, farms, factories, banks and so on all form part of the economic sub-system, whose function is to meet society’s material needs. Finally, these sub-systems together make up the social system as a whole

Question 16

What does Parsons argue about system’s needs?

Answer 16

For Parsons, society is a system with its own needs. The shared value system coordinates the different parts of society to ensure that the system’s needs are met. Parsons identifies four basic needs, sometimes known as the AGIL schema. Each need is met by a separate sub-system of institutions

Question 17

What does the AGIL schema stand for?

Answer 17

Adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and latency

Question 18

What is adaptation?

Answer 18

The social system meets its members’ material needs through the economic sub-system

Question 19

What is goal attainment?

Answer 19

Society needs to set goals and allocate resources to achieve them. This is the function of the political sub-system, through institutions such as parliament

Question 20

What is integration?

Answer 20

The different parts of the system must be integrated together to pursue shared foals. This is the role of the sub-system of religion, education and the media

Question 21

What is Latency?

Answer 21

Refers to processes that maintain society over time. The kinship sub-system provides pattern maintenance (socialising individuals to go on performing the roles society requires) and tension management (a place to ‘let off steam’ after the stresses of work)

Question 22

How does Parsons classify the four system’s needs?

Answer 22

Parsons describes adaptation and goal attainment as instrumental needs-instrumental refers to the means to an end, such as producing food to sustain the population. He describes integration and latency as expressive needs, since they involve the expression or channelling of emotions. By carrying out their respective functions, the four sub-systems ensure that all society’s needs are met and social stability is maintained

Question 23

What types of society does Parsons identify?

Answer 23

Parsons identifies two types of society-traditional and modern-each have their own set of norms

Question 24

What is modern society?

Answer 24

In modern society we pursue out individual self interest, achieve our status and are all judged by the same universalistic standards (such as equality before the law)

Question 25

What is traditional society?

Answer 25

By contrast, in traditional societies, individuals are expected to put collective interests first, status is ascribed and they are judged by particularistic standards (such as different laws for nobles and commoners)

Question 26

How does one type of society become another type?

Answer 26

For Parsons the change from one type of society to the other is a gradual, evolutionary process of increasing complexity and structural differentiation. The organic analogy is relevant here-organisms have evolved from simple structures like amoebas, where a single cell performs all the essential functions, to complex organisms like humans with many different organs, each performing a specialised function

Question 27

How can societies move from simple to complex structures?

Answer 27

For example, in traditional society, a single institution-the kinship system-performs many functions. It organises production and consumption (adaptation), often provides political leadership (goal attainment), socialises its members (latency) and performs religious functions (integration). However, as societies develop, the kinship system loses these functions-to factories, political parties, schools, churches etc. Parsons calls this structural differentiation

Question 28

What is structural differentiation?

Answer 28

A gradual process in which separate, functionally specialised institutions develop, each meeting a different need

Question 29

How else does Parsons see gradual change occurring-apart from through structural differentiation?

Answer 29

Parsons also sees gradual change occurring though moving (or dynamic) equilibrium-as a change occurs in one part of the system, it produces compensatory changes in other parts-thus the rise of industry brings a change in the family from extended to nuclear. In this way, society gradually changes from one type to another

Question 30

Where do criticisms for functionalism come from?

Answer 30

Criticisms of Parsons’ systems theory have come from both outside and inside functionalism

Question 31

Who criticises functionalism from inside?

Answer 31

Within functionalism, the most significant criticisms come from Merton

Question 32

What three key assumptions of Parsons does Merton criticise?

Answer 32

Indispensability, functional unity, and universal functionalism

Question 33

How does Merton criticise Parsons for indispensability?

Answer 33

Parsons assumes that everything in society-the family, religion and so on-is functionally indispensable in its existing form. Merton argues that this is just an untested assumption and he points to the possibility of ‘functional alternatives’. Eg, Parsons assumes primary socialisation is best performed by the nuclear family, but it may be that one-parent families or communes do it just as well or better

Question 34

How does Merton criticise Parsons for functional unity?

Answer 34

Parsons assumes that all parts of society are tightly integrated into a single whole or ‘unity’ and that each part is functional for all the rest. Similarly, he assumes that change in one part will have a ‘knock-on’ effect on all other parts. However, neither of these assumptions is necessarily true. Complex modern societies have many parts, some of which may be only distantly ‘related; to one another. Instead of functional unity, some parts may have ‘functional autonomy’ from others. It is hard to see the connections between, say, the structure of banking and the rules of netball

Question 35

How does Merton criticise Parsons for universal functionalism?

Answer 35

Parsons assumes that everything in society performs a positive function for society as a whole. Yet some things may be functional for some groups and dysfunctional for others. The idea of dysfunction (negative function) introduces a neglected route into functionalism, by suggesting there may be conflicts of interest and that some groups may have the power to keep arrangements in place that benefit them at the expense of others. Critics writing from a conflict perspective have developed this idea further

Question 36

What is the central point behind Merton’s internal critique of functionalism?

Answer 36

That we cannot simply assume, as Parsons does, that society is always and necessarily a smooth-running, well-integrated system

Question 37

What else does Merton contribute?

Answer 37

Merton also contributes a useful distinction between ‘manifest’ and ‘latent’ functions. He cites the example of the Hopi Indians who, in times of drought, perform a rain-dance with the aim of magically producing rain

Question 38

How does Merton use the example of Hopi Indians to explain the difference between ‘manifest’ and ‘latent’ functions?

Answer 38

The rain dance’s aim of magically producing rain is its manifest or intended function. From a scientific viewpoint, this is unlikely to achieve its goal. However, the ritual may also have an unintended or latent function-such as promoting a sense of solidarity in times of hardship, when individuals might be tempted to look after themselves at the expense of others. Merton’s distinction is therefore useful in helping to reveal the hidden connections between social phenomena, which the actors themselves may not be aware of

Question 39

How has functionalism been criticised from the outside?

Answer 39

While Merton’s criticisms came from within functionalism, many far less sympathetic writers have attacked functionalism from the outside, which can be divided into four kinds of criticism: Logical criticisms, conflict perspective criticisms, action perspective criticisms, and postmodernist criticisms

Question 40

What are three logical criticisms of functionalism?

Answer 40

Critics argue that functionalism is teleological. Argue that a real explanation of something is one that identifies its cause-and logically, a cause must come before its effect. Functionalism is also criticised for being unscientific

Question 41

Why is the argument that functionalism is teleological a logical criticism of functionalism?

Answer 41

Teleology is the idea that things exist because of their effect or function. For example, the functionalist claim that the family exists because children need to be socialised is teleological-it explains the existence of the family in terms of its effects

Question 42

How is the argument that real explanations identify cause that logically comes before an effect, a logical criticism of functionalism?

Answer 42

By contrast to this view, functionalism explains the existence of one thing (the family) in terms of something else that can only be its effect (socialisation), since socialisation can only come after we have families

Question 43

How is the fact that functionalism is criticised for being unscientific, a logical criticism of functionalism?

Answer 43

For many, a theory is only scientific if in principle it is falsifiable by testing . This is not true of functionalism-for example, functionalists see deviance as both dysfunctional (since society’s needs can only be met if individuals conform) and functional (for example by reinforcing social solidarity). If deviance is both functional and dysfunctional, then the theory cannot be disproved and is unscientific

Question 44

What are the conflict perspective criticisms of functionalism?

Answer 44

Conflict theorists such as Marxists criticise functionalism for its inability to explain conflict and change. Marxists argue that society is not a harmonious whole-instead it is based on exploitation and divided into classes with conflicting interests and unequal power. Conflict theorists see functionalism as a conservative ideology legitimating the status quo

Question 45

Why do conflict theorists criticise functionalists for inability to explain conflict and change?

Answer 45

This inability arises partly out of the organic analogy: organisms are relatively stable and harmonious systems in which all the parts work together for the common good

Question 46

Why do marxists criticise functionalism by arguing society is not a harmonious whole-it is actually divided and based on exploitation?

Answer 46

Stability is simply the result of the dominant class being able to prevent change by using coercion or ideological manipulation. In this view, ‘shared’ values are merely a cloak concealing the interests of the dominant class

Question 47

Why do conflict theorists criticise functionalism as a conservative ideology that legitimates status quo?

Answer 47

Its focus on harmony and stability rather than conflict and change, along with its assumptions of ‘universal functionalism’ and ‘indispensability’, all help to justify the existing social order as inevitable and desirable. Critics argue that this approach legitimates the privileged position of powerful groups who would have most to lose from any fundamental changes in society

Question 48

How do action perspectives criticise functionalism?

Answer 48

From an action perspective, Wrong criticises functionalism’s ‘over-socialised’ or deterministic view of the individual. A related criticism is that functionalism reifies society-that is, treats it as a distinct ‘thing’ over and above individuals, with its own needs

Question 49

Why does Wrong criticise functionalism as ‘over-socialised’ and deterministic?

Answer 49

The social system uses socialisation to shape people’s behaviour so that they will meet the system’s needs by performing their prescribed roles. Individuals have no free will or choice-they are mere puppets whose strings are pulled by the social system. From an action perspective, this is fundamentally mistaken. While functionalism sees human beings as shaped by society, the action approach takes the opposite view-hat individuals create society by their interactions

Question 50

Why do action perspectives criticise functionalism for reifying society

Answer 50

It treats it as a distinct ‘thing’ over and above individuals, with its own needs. By contrast, action approaches argue that society is not a thing ‘out there’ with its own independent existence. For them, the only social reality is the one that individuals construct by giving meaning to their worlds

Question 51

How do postmodernists criticise functionalism?

Answer 51

Postmodernists argue that functionalism assumes that society is stable and orderly. As such, it cannot account for the diversity an instability in today’s postmodern society. In the postmodernist view, functionalism is an example of a meta-narrative or ‘big story’ that attempts to create a model of the workings of society as a whole. However, according to postmodernists, such an overall theory is no longer possible because today’s society is increasingly fragmented

Question 52

What is the overall conclusion of funtionalism?

Answer 52

Functionalism seeks to answer the fundamental question of how social order is possible-even if its answer neglect conflict and is too deterministic. It can also be said that Merton’s notion of dysfunctions, and his distinction between manifest and latent functions, provide useful starting points for research. It is also true that many of functionalism’s critics end up ‘borrowing’ its basic notion that society is a system of interdependent parts. Finally, as Craib notes, Parsons’ theory ‘has its faults, but at least it is a theory of society as a whole’